


Breaking the Ice

by Spockzilla



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Baz pov, Below the surface, Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Carry On Countdown 2020 (Simon Snow), Carry On Countdown Day 13, Getting Together, M/M, Maybe a bit funny, One Shot, Survival, Vulnerability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27942815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spockzilla/pseuds/Spockzilla
Summary: Despite his belief in Darwinism, Baz can’t just let the moron die.
Relationships: Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Comments: 6
Kudos: 78
Collections: Carry On Countdown 2020





	Breaking the Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Harry for the art and helping me with the fic & thank you to Ari for the proof reading.

**Breaking the Ice**

The truce seemed like a good idea. When Snow and Bunce are on the case, it always gets solved. Plus Snow offered to help, so I didn’t even need to ask. 

Why does he have to be so fucking benevolent all the time? Like a goddamn golden retriever in a human suit.

“No acts of aggression.” 

That seemed fine. I wasn’t even going to torment him all that much this year anyways. 

But then Snow and Bunce decided they needed to know all about vampires to solve this. They’ve been insisting I tell them all my vampire secrets. I know fuck all about vampires. 

Now, it turns out stalking me again is not an act of aggression. 

He thinks if he catches me in the act, I’ll spill all of my vampire secrets. 

It’s been three days since I’ve been able to evade Snow. It’s been three days since I fed. The hunger is overwhelming. I’m starting to see red and I hear every heartbeat, including my own, pounding in my ears.

I told Snow I was going to walk Bunce home for the night. He’ll get suspicious when I don’t return and come out to look for me. But he won’t find me. 

I crossed the bridge and now it’s closed for the night. 

It’s fucking cold, and I’ll be out here all night, but I have my wand and warming spells. I’ll survive. 

I go into the wavering wood and start casting hunting spells.

When I don’t find anything, I venture deeper and deeper into the woods. I’m so far out, I can see the spring, which has frozen over. The lights of Mummers House aren’t even visible this far out.

I try another hunting spell and finally a deer approaches. I quickly break its neck then drain the whole thing in under three minutes. That’s how thirsty I am. 

I sit against a tree to catch my breath as I start feeling normal again. My vision clears up and it’s finally quiet. But then I hear something. It sounds like crunching footsteps.

I get up and head toward the sound. It’s coming from the spring. 

As soon as I see it, I see Snow. He’s standing in the middle of it. What the fuck is he doing?

Mumbling to himself, he’s slowly turning like he’s looking for something. Can he even see out here?

I hear a loud crack and he looks down. The sound echoes as the ice fractures and reverberates. He stumbles back, it cracks again and he falls through. 

I sprint to the spring as fast as I can, shouting, “Snow!” 

When I reach the edge of the spring, I stop and curse to myself. I’m at least as heavy as he is. 

I take out my wand and cast, “ **_light as a feather,_ **” and run across the ice, yelling, “Snow, I’m coming!”

He frantically yells back, “Baz! I can’t hold on!” Then he goes silent. 

When I finally reach him, he’s barely holding on to the ice. His head keeps dipping below. I grab his hand but it slips and he goes under. I see him moving with the current under the ice below me. 

I move out of the way, take out my wand and cast, “ **_some like it hot!_ **” throwing the weight of my magic into it.

It melts the ice and his head bobs out, then gasping for breath, he reaches for me, but grabs my wand, ripping it from my hand, and goes back under, moving further down.

I step back, shouting, “Snow! You fucking numpty!”

I see him through the ice. 

This fucking dimwit is not allowed to die like this. 

I kneel down and punch the ice. There’s a crack and I have no idea if it’s the ice or my knuckles. 

I punch it again and I can see the ice splintering as it makes unnerving sounds all around me. 

I punch once more, as hard as I can and the ice breaks apart. He’s sunken further below so I have to reach so far down, my head submerges. I’m about to just jump in after him, but then I grab a hold of the idiot by the back of his jacket and yank him out. I start dragging him away then I realize he’s not breathing.

I get down next to him, put my lips against his, pinch his nose and breath into him hard. I do it again, and again.

I stop to look at his chest and it’s not rising or falling. 

I pinch his nose again, and breathe into him once more.  
  
He jerks and I move back. Then he starts coughing and sputtering water. 

_Thank Merlin._

Waves of relief wash over me and I ask, “What the fuck are you doing out here, Snow?”

Still coughing and shivering, he says, “You kissed me,” sounding confused. 

“I was saving your life, you twit.”

“Like Sleeping Beauty?”

“No, Snow. Not like Sleeping Beauty.” More like Frankenstein’s monster. I just gave life to a big oaf that’s going to run amok and haunt me then eventually try to kill me. 

He starts to get up, but I hold him down.  
  
“You have to distribute your weight or you could fall through again, you sophomoric imbecile.”

He starts to army crawl but it’s going so slowly, I decide to grab the back of the jacket and drag him away.

He flails and says, “I can do it myself!” 

I tell him to shut up and stop moving as I keep dragging him. Quickly he stops resisting and deadweights, which is fine. He’s heavy but it’s nothing I can’t handle. 

When we get off the ice, I flip him over and say, “Give me your wand. I need to cast warming spells.”

“I- I don’t have my wand,” he shivers.

“Why the hell not?” I ask. 

“Didn’t bring it.”

“ _What?_ ” I yell.

“... I didn’t bring it.”

“Ugh! You pathetic excuse for a mage! You’ve killed us. You know that? They’re going to find our frozen corpses and the worst part is they will have no idea that it was entirely your fault.”

“What’s wrong with your wand?” he asks, teeth practically chattering. 

“You pulled it into the water, you fucking numpty. Actually, no. You’re worse than a numpty. At least numpties have ways to stay warm.”

“Can vampires even freeze to death?” he asks. 

In the most menacing tone I can manage, I say, “ _I don’t know. Why don’t you ask one_?”

He says nothing, so I walk away. 

“Where are you going?” He calls out.

I don’t answer. 

I walk around, picking up fallen branches until I have an armful of them. I take them over to where I left Snow, then do my best to stand them up like a tipi before lighting it on fire with my palm. 

I look at Snow, loathing what’s going to have to happen next. What did I do that was so horrible in a past life to warrant this? I must have been a serial killer or a telemarketer. I was okay with knowing he’d kill me one day, but I’m not okay with this. 

“Snow, you’re going to have to take off your clothes.”

“What?” is all he says. 

“Your clothes are frozen. You need to take them off to warm up by the fire,” I explain to him. 

“I don’t feel cold anymore though. I feel fine,” he says. 

“That’s because you have hypothermia. Do you know what that means? That means you’re so cold that you’re dying.”

“I think I’ll take my chances,” he says. 

“If you die out here, they will blame me. Don’t make me strip you,” I threaten, knowing how disappointed my family would be in me right now. Even Darwin would be disappointed in me. I’m a constant disappointment to everyone, including myself.

“Fine,” he says and starts taking off his clothes. The frozen fabric makes light crunching sounds as he removes it. 

After his shirt comes off, he asks, “Trousers too?” and I feel like this is a cursed sex dream. But the frigid cold is too real for that. 

“Everything,” I tell him. 

“What about you?” he asks. 

I’m going to die out here. I don’t know if vampires can freeze to death, but if that doesn’t kill me, a nude Simon Snow will. 

I push back my instinct to self immolate, and start taking off my clothes too.

“Pants too?” he asks timidly.

Merlin, help me. I want to say no. I would give up an arm to say no. I wouldn’t be able to play the violin, but I could still cast magic and play football. Sure, I wouldn’t be able to do throw-ins, but I can live with that.

But there’s arteries in the groin that need to be kept warm. 

“Pants too,” I say, wishing I were anywhere else. I’d rather be taking on crocodiles in the Nile or even having a go with a T-Rex than being here right now. 

“I swear to Merlin, Baz, if you’re just taking the piss-”

“Snow, if I set you up to fall through ice and almost die, the truce would be broken and I’d have lost my voice and my fist would be cramping up,” I say and wiggle all my fingers at him.

He slides his pants off and I look everywhere but there. The tree next to us has suddenly become quite fascinating. It’s brown… And has branches… And a trunk… Absolutely riveting. 

I lay my frozen jacket on the ground next to Snow and sit down. 

Thank Merlin I didn’t have to dive in after him and get my trousers wet. Changing in the lockers for football is one thing, but alone here with a nude Snow would be a problem.

It’s not that I’m lacking in that department. Not that Snow even cares. And it’s not that this situation is so overwhelmingly sexual that I can’t control the way my body reacts. The problem is that this is the opposite. This is a nightmare. It’s like a fantasy turned wrong. I’ve imagined putting my mouth against Snow’s and seeing him naked too many times to count. But I can’t enjoy it when he could actually die. And taking off my trousers would just add to this horrendous night that will forever ruin my fantasies. 

Keeping them on means I can at least maintain the fantasy that he’d marvel if I took them off. 

I glance at Snow and he’s hugging his knees to his chest, shivering. He looks so… Small. 

He brought this upon himself. He shouldn’t be stalking me. He shouldn't have been standing on the ice. He should have brought his wand.

But, it’s hard to stay angry at him seeing him like this. He deserves it all. But as much as I want to see him suffer, I don’t want to see him suffer like this. 

“Lay down on your side, facing the fire,” I tell him, disappointing myself once again.

“Why?” he asks quietly, shivering. 

“It’s a survival tactic,” I tell him. “I’m going to lay against your back to preserve your body heat.”

“Uhh- okay,” he says and lays down. 

I scoot until I’m behind him, and lay down and shift forwards until his back is flush with my chest. He’s curled up in a ball, so I curl up around him, effectively spooning him.

We’re laying on our right sides so I suddenly have no idea what to do with my left arm. I start to place it straight along my side, then I realize my hand would be too close to his hip. I consider placing my hand on his shoulder, but that would get uncomfortable quickly and we’re going to be out here for a while. 

I sigh and slip my arm under his and hold his chest against me. It feels better than it should.

He’s trembling against me so I ask, “Is this okay?”

“Yeah,” he breathes. 

I nuzzle my face into the back of his neck to warm up my nose because we’re already naked and cuddling, so might as well. 

“Baz?” he asks, still shivering. 

“Yes?” I say, against his skin, just now realizing my lips are on him. I could get used to speaking against him. The feel of the vibrations of my own voice bouncing from his skin and to my lips sends sparks through me. I’ve never considered this before. Now I’ll never be able to un-consider it. 

“I’m sorry about your wand. I didn’t mean to grab it.”

I can’t decide if I should move my face off him to reply. I should. Mumbling against his skin isn't exactly dignifying. But I know if I move my face away, I won’t have the courage to put it back. 

I take too long to respond and he says, “You can have mine. It doesn’t do me much good anyways.”

I decide to keep my face pressed against him because he’s warm there and it’s the least he could do after the trouble he’s caused.

Trying and failing to keep what little self respect I have in tact, I say, “Bunce will be able to spell it out in the morning,” against his neck. 

We’re quiet for a while. He’s still shivering but it’s not as bad as he was. This could be relaxing if it weren’t for the cold.

“Why were you out here?” he asks. 

I have the urge to bite him. Not with fangs. At least not this time. But my teeth are so close to his neck and he’s so vexing, in every possible way. 

“I needed some time alone to think,” I say against him, relishing the feeling. 

“You needed to spend the whole night in the woods in the freezing cold to think?”

“Yes.”

He’s quiet for a moment, then sighs and says, “I know why you’re out here. You know I know why.”

I say nothing. 

Quietly he says, “You need to go do it. I can survive on my own for a little while.”

“I don’t need to do anything,” I say, still wanting to bite him.

“Baz,” he says more sternly. “You need to.”

For a moment I think I’m actually going to bite him. Then my whole body relaxes as I give up on life and say, “I already did.”

“Oh.”

I grip him tighter without meaning to. I suddenly feel vulnerable. I’ve never admitted that to anyone. It even goes unspoken with my family. 

“You can’t tell anyone,” I try to demand, but it comes out as more of a plea. 

“I wouldn’t,” he says.

“You have,” I remind him. 

“That was different… I thought you were evil. And plotting.”

“I’m not anymore?” I ask. 

“I don’t think so.”

“Simon. Please promise me you wont tell anyone.”

“Okay. I promise,” he says.

“Thank you,” I say with a sigh of relief. 

“What about Penelope?” he asks.

I roll my eyes and say, “fine.”

“Will you tell us what you know now?” he asks. 

“I honestly don’t know anything,” I say. 

“Oh.”

His neck is now slippery from how much I’ve been talking against him. I feel like I shouldn’t be slobbering over him like a puppy or a pervert or a perverted puppy so I finally take my mouth off of him.

Snow shivers and says, “Can you put your mouth back on me?”

What? Did he just say… 

As I try to pry the dirty thoughts from my head, he says, “Please. It’s cold there now.” 

I do as asked, and ignore the two voices in my head: the one that’s making me aware how pathetic I am that I’d let Snow use my mouth to stay warm and the one that’s trying to read into what this means. 

Snow moans at the contact. 

Make that three voices. I’m also ignoring the voice that’s telling me how pornographic this all is. 

I clear my head of all thought and just focus on the feeling of his pulse on my lips. 

“Baz?” he asks. 

“Yes?”

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

“I like taking care of you.”

His pulse quickens and it startles me. 

_Wait. What did I just say?_

Simon puts his hand over mine and interlaces our fingers. 

I still, trying to process what’s happening. Maybe his fingers are just cold. 

I feel him move his hand, so I grip his fingers and give them a soft squeeze before he can let go. 

He takes my hand, moving it to his face and kisses my palm. It sends a warmth through me I didn’t think I was capable of feeling. 

He moves our hands back to his chest and asks, “What’s going to happen tomorrow?” 

“Well, we’ll put on our frozen clothes long enough to get back to our room and I’ll spell us warm with your wand,” I say without the usual malice I have for stupid questions. 

“No. I mean. Will it be like this?” he asks, wiggling our hands. “Or will it be like how it was before?”

“What do you want?” I ask, and nuzzle into the back of his neck, wondering if this is it. If tonight will be the first and last time I get to touch Simon Snow like this. 

“I like this better.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it. I felt like it wasn’t as silly as my other fics usually are, but hopefully it was still an enjoyable read.  
> Also, fyi, I’m posting the last chapter of my Christmas fic this weekend, so put on your white pants.


End file.
